In the Bundesliga they are battling together for points with Bayer 04 but they will be on opposite sides in the Africa Cup: Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou. The Leverkusen defensive duo head home before New Year to prepare for the continental tournament with their respective national teams.
Tapsoba with Burkina Faso in Group A face Ethiopia, Cape Verde plus Cameroon. The last country is the host and also the first opponent for Tapsoba and Co. The game on Sunday, 9 January (kick-off: 18.00 CET), is also the opening match of the tournament.
Kossounou with the Ivory Coast in Group E will play Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. The Ivorians start against Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday, 12 January (kick-off: 21.00 CET). The Ivory Coast squad is provisional and will be finally confirmed on Christmas Eve. Kossounou is very likely to be included as the Werkself player has been in the Ivory Coast team for five of the last six qualifiers.
The time away from the club starts on 27 December. A total of 24 teams will compete from 9 January for a place in the final that will be played on 6 February (kick-off: 21.00 CET) in the Cameroon capital Yaoundé.
UEFA held the draw for the play-offs in the Europa League in Nyon today. Bayer 04 were not in the draw as the group winners progressed straight to the Round of 16. The Werkself finished top of Group G with 13 points from six games.
16 teams take part in the second round including the eight third-placed teams from the group stage of the Champions League plus the eight group runners-up in the Europa League. The first legs will be played on 17 February with the second legs on 24 February 2022.
The Werkself can play 14 of 16 clubs in the Round of 16 as teams from the same country cannot play each other at that stage of the competition. Real Betis, group opponents of the Gerardo Seoane team, play Russian league leaders Zenit St. Petersburg.
Europa League play-off matches::
Sevilla vs Dinamo Zagreb
Atalanta vs Olympiakos
RB Leipzig vs Real Sociedad
Barcelona vs Napoli
Real Betis vs Zenit St. Petersburg
Borussia Dortmund vs Rangers
FC Porto vs Lazio
A change of coaches at the last Europa League opponents for the Werkself: Ferencvaros, who won 1-0 against Bayer 04 last Thursday, parted company with head coach Peter Stöger on Monday. Ferencvaros suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat at Debreceni VSC yesterday and lost top spot in the OTP Bank Liga.
The 55-year-old Austrian only took charge of the Hungarian champions in the summer. In Germany, Stöger coached FC Köln and Borussia Dortmund.
Bayer 04 congratulate Michal Kadlec on his 37th birthday today (Monday). The former Werkself player joined on loan from Sparta Prague in 2008 and signed permanently in the following season. The defender made 158 appearances for the Werkself and scored 14 goals in those games. The left-footer reached the DFB Cup final with Black and Reds in 2009 and was a runner-up in the league two years later.
The Czech Republic full-back moved on to Turkish top-flight club Fenerbahce in 2013/14. Kadlec has been at Czech first division club FC Slovacko since 2018. Many happy returns.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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